![\"Graham-Kapowsin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_tacoma_news_tribune_mcclatchy_987\/fe6237c7a44ef1376bc6402fb9d96f0e.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nBetween games at a club softball tournament last fall, Brooklyn Pettit\u2019s rise ball was born. The incoming sophomore had never tried the gravity-defying pitch before \u2014 but when one friend suggested practicing a new weapon on a whim, Pettit obliged.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it actually worked,\u201d she recalled Wednesday.<\/p>\n
What began as an experiment roughly eight months ago quickly became one of Pettit\u2019s favorite pitches to throw. Soon enough, she was offering a steady diet of rise balls to club opponents, improving the putaway pitch as her second season with Graham-Kapowsin approached. The rest is history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s one of my main pitches now,\u201d Pettit said.<\/p>\n
Softball (and baseball, for that matter) are layered with in-depth, complex statistics that can paint the game more as a science than a sport. But Graham-Kapowsin\u2019s formula is much simpler: When Pettit steps into the circle, the Eagles win.<\/p>\n
Graham-Kapowsin (22-1) is undefeated with Pettit this season. The Eagles have won 15 straight games since a March 28 loss to Skyline, when their star pitcher attended a weekend softball camp.<\/p>\n
The right-hander boasting a true, four-pitch mix leads the state in wins (19) and paces the South Sound with 252 strikeouts. She delivered a game-winning, two-run single late in the 4A SPSL championship game on May 7 and ranks among the state\u2019s top two-way threats, powering the Eagles to the upcoming district tournament\u2019s No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s just a goofy, no-nonsense kid,\u201d Graham-Kapowsin head coach Jamie Thomas told The News Tribune, who first coached Pettit at the middle-school level four years ago. \u201cShe just steps on the mound, doesn\u2019t yell\u2026 she just goes and does her job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she expects to be where she is now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The task for opposing hitters can be harrowing. Will Pettit bring the heat with a fastball? Will she deceive with a changeup or curveball? And what about the new-and-improved rise ball that\u2019s arguably her best?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fun to be behind her as a fielder,\u201d junior infielder Lehua Siaki said. \u201cI don\u2019t have to do a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we didn\u2019t have her, we would definitely lose more games than we have. She is able to hold it down on the mound, even when it\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham-Kapowsin surprised the 4A state bracket in 2025, dancing to a school-record third-place finish. Pettit split innings with standout senior Jessika Jennings, now at UMass Lowell, but knew a larger role loomed.<\/p>\n
The heavier workload hasn\u2019t slowed her down. The Eagles ace is 19-0 with a 0.50 ERA, tallying the South Sound-best 252 strikeouts to just 33 walks in 112 innings pitched.<\/p>\n
Of the 413 batters she\u2019s faced this spring, Pettit has struck out 61 percent of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy freshman year, I was a little rigid,\u201d she said. \u201cI was scared, not wanting to mess up, not trusting my team enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, I know I can make mistakes, and I\u2019ll still be OK. … It\u2019s just helpful to play free and trust my team more.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the plate, Pettit remains one of the South Sound\u2019s most-feared hitters. She\u2019s posting monster numbers in one of the state\u2019s toughest leagues, sporting a .551 batting average (38-for-69) with 12 home runs and 41 RBI that lifted Graham-Kapowsin to the first 4A South Puget Sound League title in program history last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on a club team with (Brooklyn) last year, and seeing her growth is insane,\u201d Eagles freshman Manamea Laban said. \u201cHer mental game\u2019s amazing. She\u2019s there for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s able to pick it up and just go.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Graham-Kapowsin pitcher Brooklyn Pettit guided the Eagles to the 2026 Class 4A district tournament\u2019s No. 1 seed with a state-best 19 wins and South Sound-best 252 strikeouts.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a \u2018Big Three\u2019 forming among 4A SPSL pitchers: Pettit, Puyallup freshman Jaycee Kemp, and Rogers\u2019 reigning TNT All-Area Player of the Year Sierra Murray. The trio has combined for 676 strikeouts and counting in 2026, each notching 200+ before district games begin Friday. All are sophomores or younger.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s bringing their A-Game,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cAnd those pitchers are phenomenal, also.<\/p>\n
\u201cSierra, we saw last year. She was phenomenal last year. Jaycee was a freshman coming in, and she\u2019s out there doing her job and having a great year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pettit and the Eagles are 3-0 against Murray and Kemp this spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust take \u2018em when you can get \u2018em, right?\u201d Thomas chuckled. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be some fun times for the next couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The big-time games on big-time stages are what Pettit lives for.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is so fun,\u201d she said. \u201cJaycee, she\u2019s a (club) teammate. I love playing with her. There\u2019s just so much competitiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d rather play those games than the (others)… I want to be there. Those games are the ones you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laban has emerged as a dangerous power hitter despite picking up the sport just three years ago, and it\u2019s easy to see why Thomas is bullish on the ninth grader\u2019s potential. She enters district play with six home runs (15 extra-base hits) and a .443 average.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad takes a lot of time off of work to be able to work with me,\u201d Laban said. \u201cHe built me a batting cage in the backyard. My mom was a (shotput) thrower at Wazzu [Washington State], so some of the mechanics\u2026 it\u2019s very close to what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Siaki has belted three home runs with a .471 batting average this spring, providing Thomas with another quality arm as Graham-Kapowsin\u2019s No. 2 pitcher (3-1, 3.59 ERA).<\/p>\n
No. 1 Graham-Kapowsin meets No. 16 Kennedy Catholic in a 4A district tournament opener on Friday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. on Field 4 at Kent\u2019s Service Club Community Fields, where the Eagles are two wins shy of a state-tournament berth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were league champs, we hope to be district champs, hopefully we\u2019re state champs,\u201d Siaki said. \u201cIt\u2019d be a triple win for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Between games at a club softball tournament last fall, Brooklyn Pettit\u2019s rise ball was born. The incoming sophomore…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,90844,90843,9,24,63,90846,90845,36469,90847],"class_list":["post-231647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-graham-kapowsin","tag-jamie-thomas","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-pettit","tag-south-sound","tag-the-eagles","tag-will-pettit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}